Dictionary of psychiatry

From WikiMD's Wellness Encyclopedia

This section of WikiMD's encyclopedia is dedicated to providing a comprehensive dictionary of psychiatry terms. Here we explore key concepts, disorders, and treatments within the field of psychiatry, each entry linked to its own detailed article for further reading.

A[edit | edit source]

  • Affective disorder - A category of psychiatric disorders characterized by disturbances in mood or emotion.
  • Agoraphobia - An anxiety disorder involving intense fear and avoidance of places or situations where escape might be difficult.
  • Alexithymia - Difficulty in experiencing, expressing, and describing emotional responses.
  • Antidepressant - A medication or other treatment used to alleviate symptoms of depressive disorders.
  • Anxiolytic - A type of medication that inhibits anxiety.
  • Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) - A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity.
  • Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) - A developmental disorder that affects communication and behavior.

B[edit | edit source]

  • Benzodiazepine - A class of psychoactive drugs used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety and insomnia.
  • Bipolar Disorder - A mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression).
  • Borderline personality disorder (BPD) - A mental illness marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image, and behavior.
  • Brief Psychotic Disorder - A disorder characterized by the sudden onset of at least one episode of psychotic behavior that lasts less than a month.

C[edit | edit source]

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) - A type of psychotherapeutic treatment that helps patients understand the thoughts and feelings that influence behaviors.
  • Compulsion - A repetitive behavior or mental act that a person feels compelled to perform to reduce anxiety.
  • Conversion Disorder - A condition in which you show psychological stress in physical ways.
  • Cyclothymic Disorder - A disorder that causes emotional ups and downs that are less extreme than bipolar disorder.

D[edit | edit source]

  • Delusion - A false belief held despite strong evidence against it; delusions are a common symptom of various psychiatric disorders.
  • Dementia - A group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking, and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily functioning.
  • Depersonalization-derealization disorder - A dissociative disorder characterized by persistent or recurrent feelings of detachment from one's own body or thoughts (depersonalization) or from one's surroundings (derealization).
  • Depression (Major Depressive Disorder) - A common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think, and how you act.
  • Dissociative identity disorder (DID) - Formerly known as multiple personality disorder, a severe condition in which two or more distinct identities, or personality states, are present in—and alternately take control of—an individual.

E[edit | edit source]

  • Eating disorders - Any of a range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits.
  • Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - A procedure, done under general anesthesia, in which small electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure.
  • Evidence-based practice - A process through which the best available research, clinical expertise, and patient preferences are evaluated and considered in the context of the individual patient's circumstances.

F[edit | edit source]

  • Factitious disorder - A serious mental disorder in which someone deceives others by appearing sick, by purposely getting sick, or by self-injury.
  • Forensic psychiatry - A special branch of psychiatry which deals with the assessment and treatment of mentally disordered offenders in prisons, secure hospitals, and the community.
  • Free association - A practice in psychoanalytic therapy, in which a patient says whatever comes to mind without censorship as a way to uncover thoughts and feelings that have been repressed.

G[edit | edit source]

  • generalized anxiety disorder - A mental health disorder characterized by persistent and excessive worry about a number of different things.
  • geriatric psychiatry - A branch of psychiatry dealing with the study, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders in humans with old age.

H[edit | edit source]

  • hallucination - A perception in the absence of external stimulus that has qualities of real perception; hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space.
  • hypomania - A mood state characterized by persistent disinhibition and mood elevation (euphoria), with behavior that is noticeably different from the person's typical behavior when in a non-depressed state.

I[edit | edit source]

  • insomnia - A sleep disorder where people have trouble sleeping.
  • intellectual disability - A generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significantly impaired intellectual and adaptive functioning.

J[edit | edit source]

K[edit | edit source]

  • kleptomania - An impulse control disorder characterized by a recurrent urge to steal, typically without regard for need or profit.

L[edit | edit source]

  • learning disorders - Disorders that involve difficulty in learning key academic skills, which can include reading, writing, or mathematics.
  • lithium (medication) - A medication commonly used to treat and prevent mania episodes in people with bipolar disorder.

M[edit | edit source]

  • major depressive disorder - A mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of low mood that is present across most situations.
  • mania - A state of abnormally elevated arousal, affect, and energy level, or "a state of heightened overall activation with enhanced affective expression together with lability of affect."
  • mental health - A level of psychological well-being, or an absence of a mental disorder.
  • mental status examination - An assessment of a patient's level of cognitive and emotional functioning.

N[edit | edit source]

O[edit | edit source]

  • obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - A disorder characterized by unwanted recurring thoughts and behaviors that drive an individual to do something repetitively.
  • opioid use disorder - A medical condition characterized by a problematic pattern of opioid use that causes significant impairment or distress.
  • oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) - A behavior disorder defined by chronic aggression, frequent outbursts, and a tendency to argue, ignore requests, and engage in annoying behavior.

P[edit | edit source]

  • panic disorder - A psychiatric disorder characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear accompanied by physical symptoms.
  • paranoid personality disorder - A mental disorder characterized by paranoia and a pervasive, long-standing suspiciousness and generalized mistrust of others.
  • phobia - A type of anxiety disorder defined by a persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation.

Q[edit | edit source]

  • quality of life - The general well-being of individuals and societies, outlining negative and positive features of life.
  • queer theory - A field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of queer studies and women's studies.

R[edit | edit source]

  • refractory depression - A form of depression that does not respond to standard treatments.
  • regression (psychology) - A defense mechanism leading to the temporary or long-term reversion of the ego to an earlier stage of development rather than handling unacceptable impulses in a more adult way.
  • repressed memories - Memories that have been unconsciously blocked due to being associated with a high level of stress or trauma.

S[edit | edit source]

  • schizoaffective disorder - A mental health condition including schizophrenia and mood disorder symptoms.
  • schizophrenia - A long-term mental disorder involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation.
  • seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - A mood disorder subset in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year, most commonly in winter.

T[edit | edit source]

  • tardive dyskinesia - A disorder that results in involuntary, repetitive body movements, which may include grimacing, sticking out the tongue, or smacking the lips, as a result of long-term use of antipsychotic drugs.
  • transference - A phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another.
  • trauma and stressor related disorders - A group of mental disorders which include those where exposure to a traumatic or stressful event is listed explicitly as a diagnostic criterion.

U[edit | edit source]

  • unipolar depression - Another term for major depression, characterized by a persistent feeling of sadness or a lack of interest in outside stimuli.
  • utilization behavior - A neurological disorder that results in patients grasping objects and performing tasks with them without any intention or awareness.

Psychiatry and psychology related terms[edit | edit source]



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Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD